Fireplace-grate



2 SheetsSheet 1.

-[No Model.)

w. E. FITCH. FIREPLACE GRATE.

Patented Dec AN DREW isnA -jAl t PHOTO-Limo. WASH l NGTON D c 2Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. B. PITCH. FIREPLACE GRATE.

(No Model.)

Patented Dec. 31, 1895.

VIZ/$522244; "a

UNITED STATES PATENT QEETQE.

IVILLIAM E. FITCH, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

FIREPLACE-G RATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 552,282, dated December31, 1895.

Application filed August 18, 1893. Serial No- 483,466. (No model.)

To (ZZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM E. FITCH, a citizen of the United States.residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State ofKentucky, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in PortableFireplaces,

of which the following is a full, clear, and

exact description.

This invention relates to that class of portable fireplaces whichcomprise a back or lining and a grate proper, and the object of myinvention is twofold, namely-first, to supply such fireplaces with abasket front by which the fire may be controlled or regulated and bywhich also the ashes may be kept within the fireplacethat is to say, maybe prevented from falling out into the roomand, second, to provide forsuch fireplaces what is known in the trade as a summer front, by meansof which the fireplace may be closed up and be given a presentableappearance when not in use.

Having thus stated the principle of my invention, I will proceed now toset forth the best mode in which I have contemplated applying thatprinciple, and then will particularly point out and distinctly claim thepart, improvement or combination which I claim as my invention.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, in the severalfigures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is afront elevation. Fig. 2 is a vertical crosssection taken in the plane ofline 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section, on a larger scale,of the double-basket front and its connections; and Fig. 4 is a similarview of a modification. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on line 4, Fig.4, of one end of the double-basket front; and Fig. 5 is a verticalcross-section taken in the plane of line 5 5, Fig. 1.

The back or lining herein shown is composed of the rear wall a and sidewalls b, which are made with the rabbet or molding c to receive thefirebrick or tile (Z, and these walls are also adapted to receive andsupport the grate c, which may be of any approved construction. Thisback or lining is also supplied with a top f, which is provided withdampers g and h, one of which, as g, may be made of a fixed grid and asliding grid movable above or upon the fixed grid, like a commonstove-damper, and either or both of which may be hinged to the top so asto be capable of being turned up, as in Fig. 5. I do not limit myinvention, however", to a top having a damper or dampers, and yet Iprefer to employ dampers at that point for obtaining the best results instarting and maintaining the fire. The facing is composed of thepilasters Z i and hooded cross-piece 70, made in three, more or less,pieces and suitably secured to the back.

The basket or front of the grate is composed of a grid Z havingrearwardly-projecting hooks m, which enter slots n in the molding c andengage the edges of such slots to hold such grid in position to confinethe fuel.

0 is a grid having the movable grid 0 fitted to it to form a damper.This grid 0 is made with the rearwardly-turned top o ,which overlaps thegrid Z. The grid 0 is secured to the grid Zby buttons or otherfastenings 0 at the top and by resting against one or more projections 0at the bottom of grid Z. It will be observed that the grids Z and o areseparated from one another by a considerable space 1), and into thisspace fall the ashes and cinders which escape through the grid Z. Thegrids Z and o 0 constitute what I call the doublebasket front withdamper. Below the damper composed of the grids 0 and o I arrange thebase-damper, ash-guard 0r crown-piece 9", which may be composed of asuitable fiXed grid and a sliding grid. This base-damper is of suitableconfiguration or design to make a pleasing finish, and in the preferredform its sides overlap the pilasters Z Z, as seen in Fig. 1. The loweredge of the double-basket front rests upon or meets the upper edge ofthe base-damper, and between and beyond them projects the shakersockets. The ashes and cinders falling through space p are concealed by andconfined behind the base-damper.

The summer front t, so called, as above stated, is a casting ofornamental construe tion and adapted to be fitted and held between thehooded cross-piece 7c and the top of the double-basket front, and forthis purpose said summer front may be made longer than the opening abovethe double-basket front so as to be slipped up behind and within theframe until its hook t is free to be passed behind the inneredge of thedouble-basket front, when it is dropped down upon the upper edge of suchfront. Lugs 10 u projecting inwardly from the pilasters support thesummer front from falling in. (See dotted lines, Fig. 1 and in Figs. 2and 5.) In Figs. 4 and 4: I have shown the double-basket front havingthe grid Zprovided with the outwardly-turned top 0 instead of having aninwardly-turned top on the grid 0, and I have shown said grid 0 securedto grid Z by screw-bolts r fitted to sockets w on grid 1. In Fig. i thereturn end 0" of the grid 0 is shown in detail, as is also thescrew-bolt 'v.

The base and double-basket-front dampers in connection with thechimney-flue connection, whatever it may be, whether a simple opening inthe back or the dampers shown in the drawings, make it possible tocontrol the fire very perfectly and to maintain a fire for aconsiderable length of time. Moreover, the ash-guard and thedouble-basket front confine the ashes and cinders within the fireplaceand concealed from view. In addition to these practically usefulfunctions, the ashguard and double-basket front and the summer front addmaterially to the appearance and finish of the article.

\Vhat I claim is 1. A portable fire-place having a double basket frontprovided with a damper, and a grate having a front grid to which thedouble basket front is secured, substantially as described.

2. In a portable fire-place, a double basket front, composed of a grateand a grid therefor to confine the fuel, and a damper-grid secured toand in front of such first-named grid and separated therefrom by a spacesufficient to permit the escape of ashes and cinders, substantially asdescribed.

3. In a portable fire-place, a double basket front composed of a grateand a grid therefor to confine the fuel and a damper-grid secured to andin front of such first-named grid, and separated therefrom by an ash andcinder space, and a top extending between the fuel grid and thedamper-grid to cover such space, substantially as described.

4. As an improved article of manufacture, a portable fire-place composedessentially of a double basket front having a damper, an ash-guard 0rbase-damper, a facing, a summer front confined between such basketdamper and facing, a grate and a lining or back, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 15th day ofAugust, A. D. 1893.

WILLIAM E. FITCH. \Vitnesses:

EAGAN M. BIGLEY, W. T. HALE.

